Ignition apparatus



y 1933. c. H. DAVIS, JR

IGNITION APPARATUS Filed Sept. 16, 1931 31mm 444% ak. M*% a Patented May9, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES HALL DAvIs, JR, or N ERSON,INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO DELCO-BEMY CORPORATION, or ANDERSON, INDIANA, AconroRA'rIoN or DELAWARE IGNITION APPARATUS Applicationfiled September16, 1931. Serial No. 563,073.

5 and requiring the firing of a plurality of spark gaps at eachexplosion period. @ne example of such engine might be a heavy dutyinternal combustion engine such as used to furnish the power forgasoline-elem -tric trains of the type wherein an internal combustionengine operates a generator which in turn operates electric motorniechanically connected with the wheels of the car.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide ignitionapparatus for supplying concurrently a plurality of spar ing impulses tothe groups of sparlr gaps to be fired at each explosion per1od. In thedisclosed embodiment of the present invention this object is carried outby providing an induction apparatus having as many secondary terminalsas there are spark plugs in each engine cylinder, or spark plugs to befired at each explosion period by providing an ignition interrupterwhich will cause sparking impulses to be generated simultaneously in'thesecondary coils'of the induction apparatus to which the secondaryterminals are connected, and by providing an ignition distributor havinga headc'arrying a circular row of posts to which the secondary terminalsare respectively connected, said headalso carrying concentricallywithrespect tothe secondary terminal posts, a row or rows of distributorposts to which thespark plugs are respectively connected, and byproviding a distributor rot-or having a plurality of distributing armseach so constructed and-arranged so as to pass between the secondaryterminal posts and the spark plug posts of the head while remaining outof contact therewith in order that it may cooperate with any of the sec-5 ondary coil terminal posts of the distributor head to conduct sparkingimpulses fi'omthe secondary coilsto certain ones of the spark plugterminal posts of the distributor, head.

Further objects and advantages of the PreSen i Ventmn Will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had tov the accompanyingdrawing wherein a preferredembodiment of one form of the presentinvention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Figs. 1 and 2 taken together constitute a wiring diagram illustratingthe present invention. p

Referring to the drawing an induction coil C is provided with a primarycoil P and with four secondary coils S1, S2, S3 and St which areconnected respectively with secondary terminal posts D-Sl, D-S2, Ill-S3,l)--Sd carried by a distributor head D. The secondary coils S1, S2, S3and S4 and the primary P are connected by switch 20 with a battery 21grounded at 22. Primary P is connected with terminal 23 of an ignitiontimer 24 comprising a cam 25 driven by shaft 26 and cooperating with therubbing block 27 attached to a circuit breaker lever 28 carryingacontact 29 cooperating with a stationary contact 30 and grounded at 31.The rubbing block 27 is urged toward the cam 25 and the contact 29toward contact 30 by a leaf spring conductor 32.

having one end attached to the terminal 23 and the other to the lever28. It is, there fore, apparent that each time the pair oi contacts 29,30 are separated by the action of the cam 25 upon the rubbing block 27four sparking impulses will be generated simultaneously in the secondarycoils S1, S2, S3 and S4. The four sparking impulses generated in theignition coil C each time the terminal contacts are separated areconducted to the various spark plugs of the engine cylinders in a mannerto be described.

The cylinders of the engine are designated in Fig. 1 by the circlesnumbered 1 to 8 inclusive respectively. The four spark plugs of eachcylinder are lettered A, B, C and D respectively.

Each of the engine r. ark plugs is connected by a wire, not 3 own, toone of a required number of distributor posts 40 carried by the head D.Obviously, there are as many distributor posts 40 as there are sparkplugs. For example, in the disclosed 40 nearest the to of the drawingnumbered r impulse is $523 that each the distributor splark embodimentof the prewnt invention the engine has 8 cylinders each rovided with 4spark fillugs making a of 32 spark plugs. e distributor head D has 32distributor posts 40 to which the engine s ark plugs are respectivelyconnected. All 0 the distributor spark plug posts 40 may be arranged ina single row concentric with the row of secondary terminal posts D-S1,D'S2, D-S3 and DS4, or these. distributor spark plu posts 40 may bearranged in staggere re ation in two or more concentric circular rows inorder to provide for properly insulating the posts 40 from each other.

The distributor head D cooperates with four distributing arms R1, R2,R3, and R4 which are mounted upon a suitable rotor lgiaock not shown,and driven by the shaft it will be observed that each distributor rotorarm has a portion extending radially with respect to the axis of theshaft 26 and an arcuate rtion which extends coaxial with the s aft 26through an angle which is greater than one-ha f the angle between anytwo adjacent seconda termimfl The rotors R2 and 4 of shorter lengthdistribute only to the inner row of 40, and the rotor arms R1 and R3 ofgreater len distribute only tothe outer row of distri utor '40. Therotors B1 .and B3 during t eir rotation about-the shaft 26 will notinterfere with.

1-33. The indicia. 50 means that distributor 'post 40 is connected withspark lug C of cylinder number the in 'cia 1 means that secondary coilS1 serves to provide the sparking impulses for the spark plug 50; andthe indicia R3 means that rotor R3 is located so as to bridge the gapbetween secondaryvterminal post D-Sl and said distributor post (marked-81-33) at the time the nerated. It will be p 40issimilarl d atedb treein dfiua. In each insta iice the first indicia indicates the cylinderand plug'to which that posts is connected, the mi dle indicia indicatesthe secondary coil and the secondy terminal p st whi h i acti e to Bawl} a sparkin impulse, and the third indicia indicates w ich rotorserves to conduct the sparking impulse from the secondary terminal postto the distributor spark plug st.

In the present invention the cam s aft 26 rotates at cycle speed thatis, one-half engine speed for a four cycle internalcombustion engine orthe engine speed .for a two cycle internal combustion engine. The shaft26 operates a circuit interrupter coopcrating with induction coil C insuch a manner that during each revolution of shaft 26 there will begenerated as many sets of sparking impulses as there are enginecylinders. There will. be as many sparking impulses in'each set of imulses as there are spark plugs to be fired. n order to rovide for thedistribution of these spar 'ng impulses the present inventioncontemplates the use of as many distributor rotor arms as there arespark plugs in each cylinder, each rotor arm cooperating with each of anumber of secondary terminal arran ed in a circular row on thedistributor he thenumber of being also ual to the number of spar plugs,in each c inder. The present invention contemp ates that each of thedistributor rotor arms is capable of occupying as manysparking-impulse-conducting positions as there are engine cylinders; andthat in any sparking. impulse-conducting position of a rotor, said rotoris located in cooperative relation with res to one of the secondaryterminal posts of the distributor head; and that each one of saidsecondary terminal posts of the distributor head serves all of thedistributor rotor arms during each rotation thereof of the distributor.rotor arms. For example, in the disclosed embodiment of the inventionthere are eight cylinders each having four spark plugs, therefore, thecam 25 must be provided with eight lobes each rotation thereof, the camwill operate upon the rubbing block 27 ei t times so that eightinstances of sparking impulse generation will occur during onerevolution of shaft 26. In each instance of sparking impulse generationfour sparki impulses will be generated simultaneously be four secondarycoils S1, S2, S3 and- Since 'there are four sparking impulses generatedsimultaneously in each instance of sparking impulse generation fourseparate rotors are uired to distribute the four sparking impu see tothe four spark plugs of any one cylinder. Since'each-rotor has eightsparking impulse conducting positions corre sponding in number to thenumber of cam lobes of cam 25, and since there are but four secondary.terminal to be placed in conductive relation wit to the rotor in eightdifierent positions t ereof, it is apparent that each secondary terminalpost must be c n c ve relation with to each so that, during rotor in twoconsecutive positions of that rotor during a complete rotation of theshaft 26. Therefore, since each rotor moves 45 betweensparking-impulse-conducting positions, each rotor must be provided withan arcuate portion extending through an angular distance of at least 45so that in two consecutive positions of any rotor one of the secondaryterminal posts will be in conductive relation thereto. Obviously, in thedisclosed embodiment of the present invention the length of the arcuateportion of each rotor is an arc subtended by an angle of greater than45.

The present invention may be applied to engines having other numbers ofcylinders and .numbersof spark plugs per cylinder.

, For example, an ignition apparatus for a six cylinder engine havingthree spark plugs per cylinder would require a six lobe cam and threesecondary windings and terminals corresponding to the number of sparkplugs. The three secondary terminal posts of the distributor head wouldbe equidistant angularly namely at 120 in a circular row on thedistributor head. The number of ,rotor arms would be three and eachrotor arm would have an arcuate portion subtended by an' angle at leastequal to one-half the angle between the secondary terminal posts, namelyan angle of at least From the examples given, it' is obvious that theinvention may be applied to other.

combinations of numbers of cylinders and numbers of spark plu s in eachcylinder.

While the form 0? embodiment of the present invention as hereindisclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood thatother forms might be adopted,

all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

a What is claimed is as follows: 1. Ignition apparatus for internalcombustion engines havin a plurality of spark gasps to be supplie withsparking imulses at each explosion period comprising, in combination,means for generating sparking impulses and having a plurality ofterminals, engine operated circuit breaker means for controlling thesparking impulse generators, a distributor head carrying a circular rowof posts connected respectively with spark gaps, a plurality of posts ofsubstantially the same width as the spark gap postsof the head, andarranged concentrically therewith, and connected respectively withterminals of the spark generating means, a plurality of distributingarms arranged to pass between the first and second mentioned posts butout of contact therewith in order to distribute sparking impulses fromthe second mentioned posts to certain of the spark gap posts, and meansfor operating the circuit breaker means and for rotating thedistributing arms,

means for controlling the sparking impulse generators, a distributorheadcarrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with sparkgaps, a plurality of posts of substantially the same width as the sparkgap posts of the head and arranged concentrically therewith, andconnected respectively with terminals of the spark-generating means, aplurality of distributing arms arranged to pass between the first andsecond mentioned posts but out of contact therewith in order todistribute sparking impulses from the second mentioned posts to certainof the spark gap posts, each arm. having an arcuate end portion whichmoves past the'second mentioned posts and which receives a plurality ofsparking impulses from one of the second mentioned posts before passinginto cooperative relation with another of the second mentioned posts,and

means for operating the circuit breaker means and for rotating thedistributing arms.

3. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines having a pluralityof spark gaps to be supplied with sparking impulses at each explosionperiod comprising, in combination, means for generating s arkingimpulses and having a plurality 0 terminals,

engine operated circuit breaker means for controlling the sparkingimpulse generators, a distributor head carrying a circular row of postsconnected respectively with s ark gaps, a plurality of posts ofsubstantlally the same width as the spark gap posts of the head andarranged concentrically therewith and connected respectively withterminals of the s ark generating means, a plurality of distri utingarms arranged to pass between the first and second mentioned posts butout of contact therewith in order to distribute sparking impulses fromthe second mentioned posts to certain of the spark gap posts, each armbeing so constructed that coincidentally with the discharge of a seriesof sparking impulses, it will present pulses to a plurality of sparkgaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at each explomentioned sionperiod, said distributor comprising concentric rows of distributorposts, one row of posts being connected respectively with the spark gapsof the engine, said distributor comprising a rotor carrying distributingconductors which move between the rows of posts in order to provide aconducting path between certain pairs of posts, the number of conductorsbein equal to the number of spark gaps to be red simultaneously; andsparking impulse generating means controlled by the engine and connectedwith the other row of distributor posts.

5. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, incombination, means for generating spar ing impulses and a distributorcarrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with spark gapsof the engine; terminal posts carried by the head and connected with thesparkin' impulse generating means, and a distri utor conductor whichmoves between said terminal posts and said posts in said circular row inorder to provide a conducting path, said distributor conductor having anarcuate end portion which moves adjacent to said terminal posts.

6. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, incombination,

means for generating sparking impulses and a distributor carrying acircular row of posts connected respectively with spark gaps of theengine; terminal osts carried by the head and connected with thesparking impulse generating means, and a distributor conductor whichmoves between said terminal posts and said posts in said circular row inorder to provide a conducting path, said conductor being so constructedthat coincidentally with a discharge of a series of sparking impulses,it will present difierent portions thereof consecutively adjacent tosaid terminal posts.

7. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, incombination, a. distributor for distributing sparking impulses to aplurality of spark gaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at eachexplosion period, said distributor comprising con centric rows ofdistributor posts, one row of posts being connected respectively withspark gaps of the engine, sparking impulse generating means havingterminals 'connected with another row of distributor posts, and saiddistributor including distributing conductor arms, each arm cooperatingwith alternate posts of. the row of posts con.- nected with spark gapsand each arm coopcrating with all of the posts connected with sparkingimpulse generator terminals.

8. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines, comprisin incombination,

\ a distributor for distributing sparking impulses to a plurality ofspark gaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at each explosion riod,said distributor comprising concentric rows of distributor posts, onerow of posts bein connected respectively with spark gaps o the engine,sparking impulse generating means having terminals connected withanother row of distributor posts, said distributor includingdistributing conductor arms, each arm coo rating with alternate posts ofthe row 0 posts connected with s ark ps and each arm coo erating with al of t 0 posts connected wit sparking impulse generator terminals, andeach arm being so constructed as to cooperate with a s arking impulsegenerator terminal post a p urality of times during each cycle ofoperation of the distributor.

In testimony whereof, I hereto aflix my signature.

CHARLES HALL DAVIS, J12.

III

